Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde are preparing for their upcoming ring encounter by adopting the bitter banter of their famous fathers.
Ali, the 23-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali, spends all her time working out at a secluded boxing camp in Big Bear, Calif., and openly mocks Frazier-Lyde’s part-time training.
“The best thing you can do for women, and women’s boxing, is to look good in the ring,” Ali says. “She makes women’s boxing look bad.”
But Frazier-Lyde, the 39-year-old daughter of Joe Frazier, is proud to be a mother who still checks into her busy Philadelphia law office every day.
“It’s important to show women they can have everything,” the Villanova law-school grad says.
“Boxing is fun and easy after fighting people in court. Having a winning attitude in life is what leads to success.”
The two women also have vastly different views – Frazier-Lyde cares, Ali doesn’t – on whether their legendary fathers will kiss and make up at the June 8 fight, as rumored.
Their dads have had frosty relations since Muhammad Ali called Joe Frazier “too ugly” and an “Uncle Tom” during their great rivalry in the ’70s.
“This bout should be a celebration of my father and Ali, and what they meant to boxing,” says Frazier-Lyde.
Laila Ali says her father is “trying to clear some things off the schedule,” but is not sure he’ll be able to attend.
“If he comes, great. But if not, I will still take care of business,” she says.
Regardless, each woman promises a knockout.
“I’m not thinking about anything else except whipping her,” says Laila, who has a 9-0 record.
Frazier-Lyde, who has a 7-0 record, thinks her mental toughness will help.
“My little 7-year-old can issue a butt-kicking, but he can’t deal with white-collar criminals,” she says of her legal experience. “That’s tougher than boxing. I’m also in great shape, and I’m gonna beat her tail.”
Laila Ali and Frazier-Lyde are both managed by their husbands. Ali’s husband, Johnny McClain, is also her trainer. Frazier-Lyde is trained by her brother and father.
McClain says Laila is in fearsome-good shape.
At 5-foot-10 and 162 pounds, she is “ripped up and fine,” he says, because of a schedule that includes a 6 a.m. run, 300 sit-ups a day, shadow-boxing, rope-jumping and sparring with men and women alike. She eats a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, devoid of fat and sweets.
Frazier-Lyde, meanwhile, recently moved out of her Philadelphia home to get into a boxing frame of mind.
“My husband urged me to get a hotel room, so I’m in a more camp-like setting,” Frazier-Lyde explains. “He said I was doing too much – laundry, cooking dinner, getting the kids up and ready for school.”
Frazier-Lyde deals with law cases until 1 p.m. before going to the gym for an hourlong session of weight training and sparring. She runs three miles in the evening, and visits with her husband and three children – ages 17, 8 and 7 – over dinner.
Since she started boxing a year ago, solely to challenge Laila Ali, Frazier-Lyde has dropped 43 pounds off her 5-foot-9 frame. The former college basketball star at American University now weighs 172 pounds, and plans to lose more in the next two weeks.
But the fight is only partly physical for Frazier-Lyde.
“My motivation here is completely different than Laila’s,” she explains. “We have a chance to change the way people look at women, and show that boxers aren’t all punch-drunk.”
Laila Ali thinks pummeling Frazier-Lyde is the way to glory.
“I feel sorry for her because her kids will have to go to school and hear other kids say, ‘Your momma got beat up so bad,'” she says.
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TALE OF THE TAPE
LAILA ALI — JACQUI FRAZIER-LYDE
23 — AGE — 39
5-10 — HEIGHT — 5-9
162 lbs. — WEIGHT — 172 lbs.
Husband (and manager) Johnny McClain — IMMEDIATE FAMILY — Husband (and manager) Peter Lyde; children, Peter Jr., 17, Sable, 8, John-Joseph, 7.
Muhammad “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” Ali — FAMOUS FATHER — Smokin'” Joe Frazier
“Keep the jab. It’s your most important weapon.” — DAD’S ADVICE — Be nice. Don’t be disrespectful.”
Queen Bee — NICKNAME — Sister Smoke (given by Muhammad Ali)
“She Bee Stinging” — MOTTO — “De-fog the Bee”
“I’m just the better athlete, the better fighter.” — TRASH TALK — I’m going to hand her head to her daddy.”
Sherwood Oaks, Calif. — HOME — Philadelphia
Some high school — EDUCATION — American University, Villanova University Law School